I'm of the opinion that the second season is where a new coach shows what he's really made of, so I'm not giving up on Sark yet. But the signs so far are deeply troubling.
The only way a non-baller hire like this was going to work is if we saw significant improvement in both player development and gameday coaching. Overall program culture and S&C usually require at least a full year for real change, so we won't know enough about development until next season. Which is why it was absolutely critical to our recruiting that this staff show a significant upgrade to on-field adjustments immediately; without that, we have little chance of moving from good recruiting classes up to elite ones. Yet what we've seen so far is the exact opposite.
Furthermore, the list of shaky calls Sark has made thus far is longer than it should be:
◉ Not Hiring an Elite Staff – There were no clear red-flag hires on this staff, but there were too many reaches, and we're seeing the consequences now. One I was particularly suspicious of before talking myself into considering it a good one was Kwiatkowski for DC. But this pick has proven disastrous. A conservative 3-front is about the worst defense you can run in the Age of the Spread, and that's what this Pac-12 guy has given us so far. We can't tackle worth a damn, and we never try to get pressure on the QB consistently. We gave up a nearly-game-changing 95+ yard drive to TCU at the end because we were running a prevent defense. Both of our last two fiascos turned on critical 3rd-downs where PK pulled everyone back, leading Joel Klatt to rip him a new one on live TV. Absent a massive turn-around soon, our DC should be first to go at the end of the season.
◉ Failing in the Portal – We knew we had significant issues on this roster, starting first and foremost on the offensive line. Yet precious few serious attempts were made to address these issues in the off-season. If Arkansas and other such schools can find significant line upgrades from lesser-known programs, then there's no reason we shouldn't have been able to do the same. { Editing this section to clarify: I didn't mean this staff ignored the portal entirely; I meant they failed to address our most pressing team needs...and in some cases didn't try nearly hard enough to do so. }
◉ Losing Recruiting Momentum – It's still not entirely clear to me why we started seeing de-commitments and declining interest among elite recruits once in-person recruiting resumed, but one thing quickly became clear: the supposed 'Bama Magic wasn't there. This staff wasn't connecting well enough with these guys, even with those already on our side. That's very disconcerting.
◉ Massively Mismanaging the QB's – Sark appears to have learned precious little from how masterfully Saban handled the Tua-Jalen situation a few years back. Saban gave both of them a fair shot and refused to name a starter until one of them had proven it to him on the field. Then he did all he could to make the second guy feel valued, which proved critical to winning the SEC title that season. In contrast, Sark named a starter before he had to and then refused to give Casey a shot at Arkansas until the game was all but over. Then in contrast to Riley's two straight bold moves at the RRS, he refused to give Hudson a chance against Okie-State last weekend, when it was clear to all of us that Casey was hurt and off his game. Not a strong start from the QB Whisperer. Not at all.
◉ Making the Same Mistakes Twice in a Row – The specifics have been laid out repeatedly, and they don't need to be rehashed in full here. But having made some epic mistakes on both sides of the ball against Oklahoma, Sark & Co. turned around and made the exact same mistakes against OSU, leading to the exact same results in our two most important games of the season. That is absolutely ridiculous. What we witnessed these past few weeks was an epic coaching collapse, and this more than anything else will shape how many fans and recruits see this staff moving forward.
We're just over halfway into Season One, yet already observers everywhere are wondering if Sark is going to make it here. Yet while this season may be all but shot, Sark still has time to address these issues; he still can put a much-improved team on the field next year. But only if he's willing to make bold changes.
He'd be wise to start doing so soon.
The only way a non-baller hire like this was going to work is if we saw significant improvement in both player development and gameday coaching. Overall program culture and S&C usually require at least a full year for real change, so we won't know enough about development until next season. Which is why it was absolutely critical to our recruiting that this staff show a significant upgrade to on-field adjustments immediately; without that, we have little chance of moving from good recruiting classes up to elite ones. Yet what we've seen so far is the exact opposite.
Furthermore, the list of shaky calls Sark has made thus far is longer than it should be:
◉ Not Hiring an Elite Staff – There were no clear red-flag hires on this staff, but there were too many reaches, and we're seeing the consequences now. One I was particularly suspicious of before talking myself into considering it a good one was Kwiatkowski for DC. But this pick has proven disastrous. A conservative 3-front is about the worst defense you can run in the Age of the Spread, and that's what this Pac-12 guy has given us so far. We can't tackle worth a damn, and we never try to get pressure on the QB consistently. We gave up a nearly-game-changing 95+ yard drive to TCU at the end because we were running a prevent defense. Both of our last two fiascos turned on critical 3rd-downs where PK pulled everyone back, leading Joel Klatt to rip him a new one on live TV. Absent a massive turn-around soon, our DC should be first to go at the end of the season.
◉ Failing in the Portal – We knew we had significant issues on this roster, starting first and foremost on the offensive line. Yet precious few serious attempts were made to address these issues in the off-season. If Arkansas and other such schools can find significant line upgrades from lesser-known programs, then there's no reason we shouldn't have been able to do the same. { Editing this section to clarify: I didn't mean this staff ignored the portal entirely; I meant they failed to address our most pressing team needs...and in some cases didn't try nearly hard enough to do so. }
◉ Losing Recruiting Momentum – It's still not entirely clear to me why we started seeing de-commitments and declining interest among elite recruits once in-person recruiting resumed, but one thing quickly became clear: the supposed 'Bama Magic wasn't there. This staff wasn't connecting well enough with these guys, even with those already on our side. That's very disconcerting.
◉ Massively Mismanaging the QB's – Sark appears to have learned precious little from how masterfully Saban handled the Tua-Jalen situation a few years back. Saban gave both of them a fair shot and refused to name a starter until one of them had proven it to him on the field. Then he did all he could to make the second guy feel valued, which proved critical to winning the SEC title that season. In contrast, Sark named a starter before he had to and then refused to give Casey a shot at Arkansas until the game was all but over. Then in contrast to Riley's two straight bold moves at the RRS, he refused to give Hudson a chance against Okie-State last weekend, when it was clear to all of us that Casey was hurt and off his game. Not a strong start from the QB Whisperer. Not at all.
◉ Making the Same Mistakes Twice in a Row – The specifics have been laid out repeatedly, and they don't need to be rehashed in full here. But having made some epic mistakes on both sides of the ball against Oklahoma, Sark & Co. turned around and made the exact same mistakes against OSU, leading to the exact same results in our two most important games of the season. That is absolutely ridiculous. What we witnessed these past few weeks was an epic coaching collapse, and this more than anything else will shape how many fans and recruits see this staff moving forward.
We're just over halfway into Season One, yet already observers everywhere are wondering if Sark is going to make it here. Yet while this season may be all but shot, Sark still has time to address these issues; he still can put a much-improved team on the field next year. But only if he's willing to make bold changes.
He'd be wise to start doing so soon.
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